Review Blog

Nov 03 2015

The singing bones by Shaun Tan

Foreword by Philip Pullman. Allen & Unwin, 2015. ISBN
9781760111038
(Age: 8 to adult) Highly recommended, Grimm's fairytales, Sculpture.
A foreword by Philip Pullman sets the scene. He would rather see the
stories of the Grimm Brothers presented without illustrations, than
repeat the soft and pretty images of books in the past. But seeing
Tan's sculptures of the grotesque and weird creatures, he is
satisfied that here is someone who is able to reveal these tales for
what they are.
With that forward in mind, opening this beautifully presented book
of Tan's sculptures set alongside excerpts from each of seventy five
tales, is quite mesmerising.
Dipping in I found some favourites: Brier Rose, Six
Swans, Snow White, The Juniper Tree and so on,
while I came across some I have not heard of: The Three Snake
Leaves, The Bearskin, The Lettuce Donkey to
name a few.
Each story is presented in a few paragraphs, and the facing page has
a stunning photograph of Tan's sculpture about that story.
Amongst the many which stand out for me is Rapunzel. The
brief outline tells us of this beautiful young girl having to let
her hair down for the sorceress to enter the high tower. The long
slim piece of clay stretches skyward, and only the small round face
on top shows us that this is Rapunzel, her hair falling straight
down to the ground. What sorrow and imprisonment is shown in this
tiny image. No Disneyfied young woman with luxuriating tresses
leaning out of her window for the handsome prince below, only a girl
detained without hope of escape. Bearskin was a story I had
not heard before, so I read a complete version in my Maurice Sendak
copy of Grimm's Tales (The Juniper Tree, 1973) to find out
about a soldier who while good at fighting has no way of supporting
himself during peace. Someone offers to support him for seven years
but he must not cut his hair or change his clothes nor pray. The
soldier eventually realises the devil is waiting for him to slip up
and take his soul. An amazing story of courage and resilience, of
temptation and honouring one's parents, Tan's sculpture looks like a
piece of carved wood, with the soldier's face peering out from the
enveloping bearskin. Readers will have lots to think about when
looking at the little piece, wondering why it is presented in this
way.
Grimm's Tales, so much a part of Western literature, exemplify the
basic tenets underlying life, be they sins like greed or envy, or
virtues like looking past appearance or honouring promises. These
stories are given a different aura through Tan's work: his curious
creatures will make readers think, setting aside illustrators of the
past who have seen fit to gentrify them.
An introduction by scholar, Jack Zipes, gives a potted history of
the Grimm Brothers and their work, and is followed by an extensive
bibliography with summaries of the stories and words by Shaun Tan
outlining the influences on his enigmatic work. A book to be
savoured: one that will add a difference to any study of Grimm's
Tales in the classroom.
Fran Knight